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2014 Investor Summit on Climate Risk

Tackling climate change and transitioning to clean energy are the greatest economic challenges and opportunities of the 21st century.
Hundreds of leading global investors gathered at the United Nations Headquarters on January 15, 2014, for the 2014 Investor Summit on Climate Risk to understand the investment and policy solutions necessary to address the climate challenge.

Tackling climate change and transitioning to clean energy are the greatest economic challenges and opportunities of the 21st century.

On Wednesday, January 15, 2014, more than 500 global financial leaders gathered at the United Nations to discuss the growing urgency of climate change and investor actions that are needed to mitigate escalating economic risks.

Climate Risk & Energy Opportunities

In 2010, governments agreed to reduce emissions enough to hold the increase in global temperatures below 2 degrees Celsius. To achieve this goal, $36 trillion in global investment in clean energy will be required by 2050, according to a 2012 International Energy Agency report. This means the world needs to invest an average of $1 trillion per year in clean energy for the next 36 years to avoid climate catastrophe.

Bloomberg New Energy Finance reported that global investment in clean energy in 2012 was $281 billion – far short of what is needed. There is a massive clean energy investment gap. Closing it will require action from investors, businesses, policymakers, and others.

Background

The biennial Investor Summit on Climate Risk is the preeminent forum for leading global investors to discuss the implications of climate change for capital markets. The first Investor Summit, held in 2003, launched the Investor Network on Climate Risk and catapulted the term “climate risk” into the international spotlight.

About the Investor Summits

Since 2003, the biennial Investor Summit on Climate Risk at the United Nations has been the preeminent forum for leading institutional investors in North America, Europe and the rest of the world to discuss the implications of climate change for capital markets and their portfolios.

At the 2012 Investor Summit, more than 520 financial, corporate, and investor leaders with more than $22 trillion in combined assets highlighted the fact that private investment in climate change solutions is crucial for addressing the climate crisis and will not happen at the necessary scale without climate and energy policies that limit emissions and put a price on carbon. The 2014 Summit will continue to drive forward this urgent agenda.